NEW DELHI: “Yeh kah-kah kar ham dil ko bahla rahe hain, woh ab chal chuke hain, woh ab aa rahe hain” (Saying he has just started, he is coming now, we are trying to console out heart). A loaded couplet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mentioned it to attack the Opposition while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address on February 8 this year in the Lok Sabha.
Such witty and satirical comments of Parliamentarians have for the first time found space on the Parliament website. Place your cursor on the ‘Business’ tab of the Lok Sabha site that has been soft launched. It will open a drop-down menu on ‘Debates’ under which you will find the ‘Wit and Humour’ section.
To being with, couplets and poems in various languages, including Tamil, besides Sanskrit shlokas of 20 members of the Lok Sabha have tabulated and uploaded. As for the revamped Rajya Sabha website, populating its Wit and Humour section is work in progress.
During the same speech, Modi had recited another couplet as he tore into the Opposition for creating pandemonium. “Tumhare pav ke niche koi jamin nahi, Kamal yeh hai ki fir bhi tumhe yakin nahi” (There is no ground under your feet, the wonder is you don’t believe it yet), Modi said to taunt Congress members amid thumping of desks from the Treasury benches.
Another couplet that figures on the list is by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Translated from Hindi, it reads, “We are asked to extinguish fire with fire, accept wound after wound. To show we are loyal, we are asked to behead ourselves.” He said it in his fiery speech against the Modi government while participating in the same Motion of Thanks debate.
A Kural in Tamil quoted by Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, “Idippaarai Illaadha Emaraa Mannan Keduppaa Rilaanung Kedum” (A king without an honest and critical counsel needs no enemies to come to ruin.), too, gives ample food for thought.